Some of the year’s most anticipated films premiered to standing ovations at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but only one could walk away with the Palme d’Or. Sean Baker’s Anora eventually managed to beat tough competition and collected the festival’s main award this past weekend.
Anora stars Mikey Madison as an exotic dancer from New York, whose luck turns when she meets the immature son of a Russian oligarch. Sparks fly between them, leading to an unexpected elopement, but his parents are quick to fly to New York and try to force an annulment.
Anora follows in the footsteps of Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, and Anatomy of a Fall as Neon’s fifth film in a row to win the prestigious Palme d’Or. It’s also the first American film to walk away with this prize since The Tree of Life in 2011.
Cannes jury president Greta Gerwig announced Anora as the winner, and explained they decided to honor it with Palme d’Or because it’s an “incredibly human and humane film that captured our hearts, made us laugh, let us hope beyond hope and then broke our hearts, and never lost sight of the truth.”
Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, and Omar Sy were also a part of the main competition jury at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, which took place from May 14 to 25.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2024 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:
Palme d’Or
Anora, dir: Sean Baker
Grand Prize
All We Imagine as Light, dir: Payal Kapadia
Jury Prize
Emilia Perez, dir: Jacques Audiard
Best Director
Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour
Special Prize
Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Best Actor
Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Best Actress
Emilia Perez ensemble: Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez
Best Screenplay
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat
Camera d’Or
Armand, dir: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Special Mention
Mongrel, dir: Chiang Wei Liang
Short Film Palme d’Or
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, dir: Nebojsa Slijepcevic
Special Mention
Bad For a Moment, dir: Daniel Soares
